Showbiz Feature
10 Things About... Michael Palin
By Jen Halliday
Frequently described as "Britain's nicest man", Michael Palin really has done it all. From playing a singing, cross-dressing lumberjack to travelling Around the World in 80 Days, the star has no plans to stop yet. He's even about to venture further than ever before, as he joins the Clangers' little moon planet as their new narrator.
Palin is a household name in the UK and around the world, thanks to his globetrotting adventures and most prominently his Monty Python fame. But here are some facts you may not know about the comedian...
1. Michael Edward Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield on May 5, 1943. He attended Birkdale Preparatory School and had his first acting - and possibly cross-dressing - experience at the age of 5 in a performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in which he played Martha Cratchit... and fell off the stage.
Undeterred by this unfortunate turn of events and despite his extreme stage fright, Palin caught the acting bug. During school breaks he would perform improvisatory shows for friends, including a series about what might go wrong at the Coronation.
2. In 1997, while filming in Australia for travel documentary Full Circle with Michael Palin, he had a cameo on Home and Away as an English surfer with a fear of sharks.
3. Along with the rest of the Monty Python team, Palin has an asteroid named after him - '9621 Michaelpalin'. Catchy. He also has two British trains named in his honour due to his achievements as a traveller: a Virgin Super Voyager and a National Express East Anglia British Rail Class 153. Which is super cool. No, really, imagine having a train with your name on it - that would be awesome. And he's got two!
4. Despite his love of all things travel, Palin claims to have a phobia of Virgin Pendolino train toilets because he doesn't trust the locking mechanisms and fears being either trapped or someone walking in on him.
5. If he answers his front door to a stranger, he will sometimes pretend to be his own brother in order to escape. Heads up to any potential visitors to Palin's home: he doesn't actually have a brother.
6. He's travelled from Pole to Pole, but apparently Palin has never been to Middlesbrough, which is a shame because it means he's missing out on sampling the delicious Parmo. Palin is a big food fan, but has simple tastes, favouring "burnt stuff. Burnt toast. Anything with carbon on it."
7. Although he has a "nice guy" reputation, Palin once stormed out of his own house while being interviewed by reportedly rude Oxford students who hadn't enjoyed his film The Missionary.
8. His stammering character Ken in the 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda was based on his father who suffered from a severe stammer all his life. Because of this, Palin advocates The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in Islington, which opened in 1993.
9. Palin once called David Beckham a "wimp" in an interview after watching his Amazon rainforest documentary, in which the former England footballer gets scared of a frog on top of his tent ("David Attenborough would have interviewed it") and a snake on the floor. But he did praise Beckham for being a "good observer".
10. He was QI producer John Lloyd's first choice to front the BBC panel show, alongside team captains Stephen Fry (of the "clever team") and Alan Davies (of the "stupid team"), but turned the job down - leading to the format we know today. That's quite interesting.
Palin is a household name in the UK and around the world, thanks to his globetrotting adventures and most prominently his Monty Python fame. But here are some facts you may not know about the comedian...
© Getty Images / Tristan Fewings
1. Michael Edward Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield on May 5, 1943. He attended Birkdale Preparatory School and had his first acting - and possibly cross-dressing - experience at the age of 5 in a performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in which he played Martha Cratchit... and fell off the stage.
Undeterred by this unfortunate turn of events and despite his extreme stage fright, Palin caught the acting bug. During school breaks he would perform improvisatory shows for friends, including a series about what might go wrong at the Coronation.
2. In 1997, while filming in Australia for travel documentary Full Circle with Michael Palin, he had a cameo on Home and Away as an English surfer with a fear of sharks.
3. Along with the rest of the Monty Python team, Palin has an asteroid named after him - '9621 Michaelpalin'. Catchy. He also has two British trains named in his honour due to his achievements as a traveller: a Virgin Super Voyager and a National Express East Anglia British Rail Class 153. Which is super cool. No, really, imagine having a train with your name on it - that would be awesome. And he's got two!
4. Despite his love of all things travel, Palin claims to have a phobia of Virgin Pendolino train toilets because he doesn't trust the locking mechanisms and fears being either trapped or someone walking in on him.
© BBC
5. If he answers his front door to a stranger, he will sometimes pretend to be his own brother in order to escape. Heads up to any potential visitors to Palin's home: he doesn't actually have a brother.
6. He's travelled from Pole to Pole, but apparently Palin has never been to Middlesbrough, which is a shame because it means he's missing out on sampling the delicious Parmo. Palin is a big food fan, but has simple tastes, favouring "burnt stuff. Burnt toast. Anything with carbon on it."
© Getty Images / Stuart C. Wilson
7. Although he has a "nice guy" reputation, Palin once stormed out of his own house while being interviewed by reportedly rude Oxford students who hadn't enjoyed his film The Missionary.
8. His stammering character Ken in the 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda was based on his father who suffered from a severe stammer all his life. Because of this, Palin advocates The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in Islington, which opened in 1993.
9. Palin once called David Beckham a "wimp" in an interview after watching his Amazon rainforest documentary, in which the former England footballer gets scared of a frog on top of his tent ("David Attenborough would have interviewed it") and a snake on the floor. But he did praise Beckham for being a "good observer".
10. He was QI producer John Lloyd's first choice to front the BBC panel show, alongside team captains Stephen Fry (of the "clever team") and Alan Davies (of the "stupid team"), but turned the job down - leading to the format we know today. That's quite interesting.
